06 January 2011

Seed Starting Time

The lower garden may be under renovation and the outside temps are still cold enough to freeze everything piled on the next new compost row until it starts cooking but that doesn't mean we are unable to grow food in January. We have a greenhouse, after all!

My Pepper Experiment failed again this year. The heat lamp I hung in the greenhouse to keep them going pulled on its' thermostatic plug and never came on while we were away over Thanksgiving. Now the peppers and tomatoes are compost and I have space in there that wants filling.

Today I assembled some old salad boxes and cold cut trays and turned them into mini flats for cold crops. There are seeds for broccoli plants, lettuces, bok choi cabbages, spinach, and beets nestled in deluxe seed starting medium made from our own compost and the lifeless (but ultra friable) peat mix they sell for the purpose. Once the seeds have germinated I'll move the flats into the greenhouse. Once they're large enough to handle I'll transplant them into my growing bins where they have the benefit of bottom watering every time it rains.

And the now-well-behaved heat lamp will keep them from freezing and, so, able to grow.